


prince of the stars

by 101places



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon MCD Mentioned, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I feel so icky using that tag because i know how some people use it, Jemma Simmons Has PTSD, S06E06 Inescapable, but it's just like what happens in canon i swear its not weird
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 16:01:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19321456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/101places/pseuds/101places
Summary: Jemma tells Fitz a story all about a prince who was lost in the stars, and the (brave, smart) princess who saved him.( AKA : au where everythings the same but fitz gets to read the story & that's how he finds out about everything )





	prince of the stars

**Author's Note:**

> 6x06 sure was an episode huh. i have something else planned to write based on it but i wanted to get this done first!
> 
> as always, kudos/comments are appreciated! hope you enjoy!!

“This one!” Jemma’s voice interrupted Fitz’s thoughts, and he looked over to see what she was talking about. “Read me this one!”

This wasn’t something he was going to get used to any time soon. Out of everything that had happened during his time as a SHIELD agent, this had to be the most disturbing… or, okay, it had to be in the top… 10. Probably.

“You want me to read you a bedtime story?” He asked skeptically.

Little Jemma nodded and looked over at him expectantly. Fitz sighed, bringing his hand up to rub at his temples. He had no idea where to proceed from here- this situation was an unknown on so many levels. What the hell were you supposed to do when your partner physically regressed into a seven-year-old and hid in her bed to avoid answering your question?

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to stay in here.” He finally decided. “Come on, let’s go back. This could be the madness that she was talking abou-”

Before he managed to even take a step forwards Jemma’s expression changed, and she opened her mouth and started to scream. “ _ Daddy _ ! The strange man in my room is trying to abduct me!”

“Hey, hey,” Fitz came forwards frantically, glancing to the door nervously, “Okay, okay. I’ll read you your story.”

Jemma immediately stopped yelling and smiled at him, handing over her book. Fitz quietly filed her behaviour away in her mind, should he need something to tease Simmons over later. With a sigh, he sat down beside her and took the book, flipping it open to the first page. She shuffled closer to him so that she could see the pictures.

“It’s about a prince who gets lost in space with his imaginary friend, and a brave princess that rescues him.”

...Ah.

Fitz was starting to understand why she was so insistent that he read this book.

“Once upon a time, there was a prince who was lost,” He began, “And a smart, beautiful princess who was determined to find him.”

He turned the page, chuckling softly at the drawing of a monkey. “The princess vowed that neither time nor space would keep them apart, so she gathered up her bravest friends and flew into the unknown.”

He paused, “What’s this called?” He wondered, flipping the book around to see the cover.  _ The Prince of the Stars _ . That made sense, he supposed. He rested the book on his lap and looked over at Jemma. “I get it. But why can’t you just tell me about everything properly?”

Jemma shook her head and pointed at the book. “Keep reading.”

Begrudgingly, he turned back to the book. “The princess looked everywhere for the prince. She went to a fire planet, and a diamond planet, and a… groovy planet?” He frowned, looking at an illustration of the princess, rabbit and bear  _ very _ high. “That does not seem age appropriate.”

Fitz turned the page and kept reading. “The prince was nowhere to be found, and everyone told the princess that he was lost for good, but she said that she would never give up. And then, she found him.” He took a moment, looking at the illustration of the prince and the princess embracing with a fond smile.

Then he turned the page, and his breath caught in his throat.

To his side, Jemma was staring at him. “Keep reading.”

He swallowed, and read the words on the page. “The princess told the prince about her adventures.”

At the bottom of the page, the prince and princess stood, holding each other’s hands, and around them were illustrations of the princess’s adventures. Dressed in a strange outfit in front of a blue monster, kissing a version of the prince dressed in an outfit that Fitz had never seen before, standing before the white monolith, and so many more.

Fitz looked over at Jemma. “What is this?”

She looked over at the illustrations, “You wanted to know.”

“This doesn’t tell me anything. I don’t understand.”

Jemma reached over and took the book from Fitz, looking intently at the pictures, pointing to each of them as she explained. “The princess went to the future. She saw the world in the future, and she was taken by a scary monster. But it was okay, because then the prince came and he saved her. They saved all of their friends, and they went back to the present.”

“Then they worked together and helped save the world. It didn’t go simply, though. The prince got sick and saw some scary things, and everyone fought and yelled. In the end they saved the world, but things weren’t happy, because some people were dead.”

Fitz felt something cold in his chest. “Who died?”

“The prince did.” Jemma said simply, still looking down at the book. “And so did the king.”

Fitz shut his eyes, and felt his hand shake. He took a breath, trying to calm the anxiety that he could feel buzzing in his chest. “Who- who’s the king?”

“The one in charge. He didn’t have a hand.”

Fitz felt as though the ground had given way beneath him- as if the world around him was distorting and shifting, but despite being in a supposed mind prison, when he opened his eyes he saw that Jemma’s bedroom was exactly as it had been before. He pulled himself to his feet, shaking his head. “I can’t… I can’t be here.”

Startled, Jemma reached forwards and grabbed his arm, letting the book fall to the floor. “Don’t go.”

“You…” Fitz shook his head again. “I can’t- I can’t do this. I can’t do this right now. Not with you, not with you like this. I need to know what happened, Jemma. I need you to tell me. Really- really tell me, not just- not just using a storybook, not while you’re like this.”

Jemma’s grip tightened. “I can’t, either! I can’t and I don’t want to and I won’t.”

Fitz pulled his arm away and walked to the door, twisting the doorknob and pulling it open. But the door didn’t budge. Fitz hit his hand against the door in frustration, trying to calm himself down as he turned back to face Jemma. As angry, scared, and confused as he felt, he couldn’t take it out on her- especially not when she looked like  _ that _ .

Jemma darted away from the edge of her bed, hiding under the covers, this time not even peeking out. For a while he stayed on the opposite end of the room, trying to calm himself and work out how the hell he was supposed to process this information, before he eventually walked forwards and picked up the discarded storybook, reading silently from where they’d left off.

The next page showed the prince’s distress at hearing everything that he’d missed, but the princess stayed by his side, promising that they would face the future together. The two embraced again, before the princess took the prince’s hand and led him back home, with the book finally ending on a happily ever after.

Fitz set the book aside when he was done, breathing out and gathering up what little courage he had next, and approached the bed. He sat on the side of it, and felt Jemma shift under the covers as she felt the bed shift. He brought his hand up and rubbed at his face, trying to work out what the hell he could say.

“We need to talk about this.” He finally said, his voice pained. “Everything that happened... you need to tell me about it all properly, because, Jemma, that is the only way we’re going to move forwards. I don’t know how I’ll react. I’m sure that I’ll be angry, and upset, and terrified, but- but we can move past that. We can’t just put this into your music box and pretend it doesn’t exist. That’s not healthy. We need to acknowledge it, but… I can’t do that alone, Jemma, so please. Please help me.”

Silence stretched out across the room, before Fitz felt something move under the blankets, and a head peeked out, looking at him with exhausted- and very much grown-up- eyes.

Fitz let out a sigh of relief. “Jemma…”

Simmons pushed the blanket off of her, looking away and blinking back tears. She pulled her legs up to her chest, resting her head on top of them. Though she was now absolutely an adult, oddly she looked more vulnerable than she had as a child. Somewhere beneath the confusing cacophony of emotions that swirled around his head, he felt a twinge of misery at her heartbroken expression.

“I wanted to tell you.” She began slowly. “I knew that I had to. I just… I wanted to do it right. I knew it would hurt you, so I wanted to tell you gently. I wanted to make it as easy as possible.”

“I’m not some- some- I’m not made of glass. You don’t need to treat me like I’m going to break.”

She smiled bitterly, and Fitz felt sick trying to work out what could have caused that reaction.

“I know.” She finally said. “I know that. Maybe it wasn’t really about you. Maybe that was just the excuse I told myself when, really, I… as long as I didn’t tell you, I could pretend nothing happened. I could just smile and laugh and live in a world where none of it had happened for a little while.”

Fitz sighed, and moved closer to her, hesitating for a moment before bringing his arm up around her, pulling her into his side. She let him puppet her without resisting, letting her head rest on his chest.

“We’re supposed to be unstoppable together, yeah?” He spoke, his voice low. “So we’ll face what happened, and this- this mind prison. We’ll face all of it and come out on the other side. But we need to take that first step.”

Simmons shut her eyes, trying to bring her anxiety down somewhat, and started to speak. She told him everything that had happened since they’d last seen each other, from being forced into Kasius’s service, to accidentally getting high with Daisy, and everything in between.

The pair shook, and cried. They felt misery and anger and hurt and betrayal all over again, but they felt it together, and when they were ready they approached the door to Simmons’s room hand-in-hand, ready to face whatever this mind prison chose to throw at them next.


End file.
